INDIAN WELLS, Calif., March 12 (UPI) -- Top-ranked Lloyd Hewitt saved three match points Tuesday before coming away with a dramatic 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 over Younes El Aynaoui.
The victory came in the opening round of the $4.55 million Tennis Masters Series event at Indian Wells, Calif.
"It's sometimes nice to get through a tough match," Hewitt said. "I felt like nothing was going right today at all until that time where it did. It's a little bit of a wakeup call. It's nice to sort of have an escape like that."
The third-seeded Hantuchova was not as resilient, falling to No. 16 Amanda Coetzer of South Africa, 6-4, 6-4, in women's fourth-round action.
After making a breakthrough here last year to win her only career title, Hantuchova recorded 35 winners Tuesday, but committed 59 unforced errors, 26 more than Coetzer.
"I was so much looking forward to this tournament, playing out there on the same court where I finished so great last year," Hantuchova said. "It's disappointing that I lost today, but that's tennis."
The 19-year-old Slovakian acknowledged her opponent's superiority Tuesday.
"Give all the credit to Amanda the way she was playing today," Hantuchova said. "She was almost not missing at all. It's very tough against her because she's so fast and gets to everything."
At 31, and a 13-year tour veteran, Coetzer found the victory both satisfying and gratifying to be able to finish the match after squandering a 3-0 second-set lead.
"It's important to me," said Coetzer, a two-time finalist here and a winner two weeks ago at Acapulco. "I've had some good wins these last few weeks, and really some tough matches where I felt like I was in deep trouble against players that were ranked lower, but it means lot to be able to close out a match like this today."
Coetzer's quarterfinal foe will be No. 26 Conchita Martinez of Spain, a 6-1, 6-2 winner over Emmanuelle Gagliardi of Switzerland.
El-Aynaoui handed Hewitt his only loss of the year with a stunning four-set victory in the fourth round at the Australian Open. He appeared on his way to a repeat performance that would knock the Australian from the top spot after 69 consecutive weeks at No. 1.
"It just felt like he was playing so well in Australia against me in that match, and he continued exactly that way from the word go today," Hewitt said. "But I just kept telling myself to hang in there."
In other men's opening-round results, No. 4 Roger Federer, who won titles at Marseille and Dubai earlier this year, claimed victory when Felix Mantilla of Spain retired from heat exhaustion in the dry 90-degree heat, trailing 6-7 (4), 6-4, 4-1; Gustavo Kuerten, who dispatched ailing 2000 Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia, 6-2, 6-4; fifth-seeded and 1999 runner-up Carlos Moya of Spain drubbed three-time champion Michael Chang, who is retiring, 6-0, 6-3; and No. 6 Andy Roddick eased past Thomas Enqvist, 6-4, 6-4.
On the women's side, top-seeded Kim Clijsters of Belgium beat Nathalie Dechy, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, and will play No. 8 Chanda Rubin in the quarterfinals. Rubin rallied past No. 21 Ai Sugiyama of Japan, 0-6, 6-4, 6-4.
